Re: ~O~ Is there a time limit?
I don't have much experience with soaps apart from AWZ, though I get the impression that the turnaround is somewhat faster with them than on other soaps. They've been on the air for four years, and there are only five of the original main cast left (Richard, Simone, Roman, Annette and Axel). I think how long people stay depends entirely on their personal situation and preferences, as well as on the material the show has to offer them, in the long run.
This is just me speculating, but at the moment I feel like the show's in a bit of a rut with most of its major plotlines and characters. The Centre has been in and out of major financial trouble about a dozen times. The spunky, indomitable new skater from the wrong side of the tracks has been through her cycle of successes and setbacks about a dozen times PER SPUNKY, INDOMITABLE SKATER. The OTP story has been told ad nauseum with various couples. The major pairings still on the show (Richard and Simone, Annette and Ingo, Deniz and Roman) have broken up and reunited at least twice per couple. The above-mentioned infuriatingly overused triangle plot has been sucked dry as a raisin, is in its fourth incarnation and hasn't really worked since the first one ended. It also feels like the writers ran out of ideas for a lot of the main characters relatively quickly (Juli, Oliver, Stella, Oliver, Celine, Jenny).
I have no idea if AWZ's concept is enough to turn into one of those soaps that goes on for decades - on the one hand I feel, having watched them for a few years, that it's time to try new things; on the other hand there's probably enough turnaround with the viewership that the new viewers will never have seen the old stuff so they won't know how much of it is recycled *shrugs* As for the actors, with most of them I can totally see why they left (or were written out) when they were. From what little I know of other soaps, I very much find AWZ to be a different kind of beast - more spunky, more fast-paced, more progressive - but it also seems to come with a higher burnout factor for the plots and characters. To be honest, I actually kind of wish the boys had opted to leave on a high note because I'm feeling skeptical about the likelihood of them getting good plot again anytime soon, and I'd hate for them to peter out or get rubbish plot the way other characters have. But that's my usual pessimism talking, and the actors need to make their livelihood, of course. I guess we'll see.